246 Keiv : On the Pairing of Limax maximus. 



the animals were interrupted by the observer ; and in the other, 

 instead of ascending- the cord, both fell to the ground.* 



Mr. Standen's observation was made, in 1875, at Goosnargh, 

 near Preston. The animals, according to information obligingly 

 communicated to the writer, were about four feet from the 

 ground, and were suspended by a strong cord about two feet 

 long from a branch of a fruit tree nailed against a wall. Their 

 contortions and gyrations were remarkable ; twisting round and 

 round, they writhed about in all directions ; and, by slowly 

 lengthening the cord, they came within about two feet of the 

 ground. After separation, one ascended the cord and regained 

 the branch ; while the other, lengthening the cord, descended to 

 the ground. 



Mr. Daniel's observations were made, presumably in the 

 neighbourhood of Heidelberg, during evenings in damp weather. 

 He saw the paired animals suspended, heads downwards, by 

 threads of slime, from the lower branches of fruit trees and from 

 the faces of walls and rocks, f 



A pair observed by Mr. Tye were suspended from a wall by 

 a stout thread, 9 inches long, capable (as the observer found) 

 of bearing a weight much greater than that of the two slugs. % 

 In another case seen by Mr. Tye (as he informed the writer) the 

 thread was shorter, and was not, as it was in the first case, of 

 a decided yellow colour. In both cases the wall from which 

 the slugs hung was thickly coated with a patch of slime about 

 6 inches wide. 



In the case observed by Mr. Ashford, the animals were 

 hanging from the face of a wall in a garden. A large triangular 

 film of slime formed the base of attachment, and was continued 

 as a rather thick cord, nearly clear of the wall, and firm enough 

 to break with a decided snap when the animals were removed. 

 The total length of this attachment was 5^ inches, and from it 

 the creatures hung by their tails, coiled in the usual manner, 

 while the copulatory organs, hanging below, formed an enormous 



* Baudelot, Recherches sur l'appareil generateur des Mollusques gastero- 

 podes, Annales des Sciences Naturelles (4), Zoologie, XIX. (1863), pp. 187-90. 



tj. E. Daniel, Thread-spinning- by Slugs, Hardwicke's Science-Gossip, 

 1875, pp. 206-7 ? Catalogue of the Mollusca found in the neighbourhood of 

 Heidelberg', Quarterly Journal of Conchology, I. (1876), pp. 112-3; and in 

 Jeffreys, British Conchology, I. (1862), pp. 137-8. 



% G. S. Tye, Molluscan Threads, . Quarterly Journal of Conchology, I. 

 (1878), pp. 401-15. 



Naturalist, 



